Palestine: Israeli troops shoot & injure man in Northern Gaza

International Middle East Media Center: A Palestinian man was shot and injured by Israeli forces in northern Gaza, on Monday, in the second incident of its kind in 24 hours, according to locals.

Witnesses told Ma’an News Agency that a 20-year-old man was collecting stones to make concrete outside of Beit Hanoun, near Erez crossing, when Israeli forces shot him.
The young man, who was not immediately identified, sustained moderate wounds, Ma’an reports.

A spokeswoman from the Israeli army said that “dozens” of Palestinians gathered in an area near the border which they were “not permitted” to enter. She stated that they were warned to distance themselves, upon which warning shots were fired into the air. Soldiers then fired at the lower extremities of one, the spokeswoman said, identifying a hit.
Just Sunday, in the same area, a 21-year-old gravel worker was also shot by Israeli forces. The man was taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital in moderate condition.

Ma’an further reports that many people in the besieged coastal enclave collect small stones in order to make gravel for concrete, because the import of concrete is forbidden by the Israeli economic blockade, which has been in place since 2006.

Israeli soldiers frequently fire on farmers and other civilians inside the Strip, if they get too close to certain areas of land near the border which the Israeli military has closed off to Palestinians.

According to Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, the number of live-fire casualties near the fence has been on the rise since last December.

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